Hurricane Danny (1997)

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This article is about the Atlantic hurricane in 1997. For other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Danny was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States during the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season, and the second hurricane and fourth tropical storm of the season. The system became the earliest 5th tropical or subtropical storm of the Atlantic season when it reached tropical storm strength on July 17, and held that record until the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season when Tropical Storm Emily broke that record by several days. Like the previous four tropical or subtropical cyclones of the season, Danny had a non-tropical origin, after a trough spawned convection that entered the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Danny had an extended northeast track through the Gulf of Mexico, caused by two high pressure systems, a rare occurrence in the middle of July. The storm moved across the southeastern United States, after making landfall in the Gulf Coast, and affected parts of Massachusetts with rain and wind.




Danny is noted for the extreme rainfall, tornadoes, and damage it produced on its path, causing four direct fatalities and $100 million (1997 USD, $128 million 2007 USD) in damage. The storm dropped a record amount of rainfall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches (932 mm) on Dauphin Island. Flooding, power outages, and erosion occurred in many areas of the Gulf Coast, and rescues from flooded roads had to be performed. Various tornadoes on the East Coast caused a great amount of damage. Danny caused one death off the coast of Alabama, four deaths in Georgia, two deaths in South Carolina, and two deaths in North Carolina.